What He Always Knew
by Crystal Frost
Summary: CHAPTER 3 has arrived! Hermione is being troubled by subconscious feelings for Sirius Black but he is keeping something from her. Suddenly she is swiped away to another time to fullfill her duties of love to the one she would have never expected... SBHG.
1. I'll Take Care of You

Chapter 1: I'll take Care of You

The night was crisp, cold, and only a faint whisper of wind lead the night. The rickety old mansion at Twelve Grimmauld Place held two and only two occupants that night: Hermione Granger was about to discover the reason for her recent impulse to constantly be with Sirius Black. Sirius knew why ever since the moment he had met her again three years ago in the Shrieking Shack. He was only waiting for the right time to tell her; and tonight was it. Hermione stood by an open window looking out over the black moonlit hill as the white curtains frequently brushed across her troubled face.

"Are you okay?" said Sirius from the doorway across the dark empty lounge in which Hermione lingered. Hermione jumped at the sound of his voice and turned to look at him.

"Oh, Sirius. I didn't hear you come in," Hermione said, forcing a smile onto her face in hopes that it was convincing. Sirius stepped into the room all the way, leaving the door halfway open as it was.

"You want to tell me what's been bothering you so much lately?" Sirius said crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. Hermione looked down, around the room, and anywhere but at Sirius as she turned slightly pink.

"Oh, its nothing. Really." Hermione said, scratching her shoulder and finally glancing at him briefly. Sirius chuckled softly.

"Oh, Hermione, really. No matter how much you hate to hear it, you have to admit you are rather stubborn when it comes to accepting help from people," Sirius said, raising an eyebrow at her and brushing away a lock of his long dark hair that had found its way in front of his eye. Hermione didn't say anything. She knew he was right. But how could she say it? "And plus," Sirius continued. "You never listen to me when I talk to you lately. When I try to look at you you look away--"

"Sirius, listen," Hermione said, cutting him off and looking away. Sirius shut his mouth immediately and looked at her desolately. "Sirius, something keeps happening with me. Something strange and wrong, I…" Sirius just watched her patiently, waiting for her thoughts to come. "…I have these… these feelings… when I'm near you, I feel like we've had something before. Like you…" she paused again, trembling Sirius took a step towards her, intending to comfort her. She looked up and their eyes met. "Like you've loved me, before." There was a long pause where they stared at each other, Hermione wavering and waiting while Sirius attempted to understand what she had just said.

"Oh, Hermione," Sirius muttered under his breath as he strode towards her, his pace quickening every step until he reached her and embraced her in an intimate hug. "Hermione, I must tell you something and you have to forgive me for keeping it from you for so long," Sirius muttered in her ear. He ran his hand down her arm very tenderly although she still gave a little jolt of surprise. Sirius hushed her and pulled her firmly but gently more directly in front of him.

"Hold my hand," Sirius whispered in her ear. She closed her eyes slowly as he slid his hand down her arm. There was a pause before Hermione's infatuated self did as he told her and grasped his hand tightly. "When I was seventeen a girl was sent back in time to my time, during my seventh year at Hogwarts," Sirius started. "She, she was magnificent and I …"

"Who was she?" Hermione asked suddenly. Sirius looked at her for a long while until he opened his mouth slightly and then closed it again. He couldn't bring himself to do it.

"I… oh she… no one," Sirius said quickly, looking away. Hermione turned him firmly to look at her again.

"Why won't you tell me? Do I know her?" Hermione asked, a tint of anger in her voice at him for bringing it up in the first place and not completing the story. Sirius looked down at her beautiful brown eyes and couldn't stand to see them fill with tears.

"No," Sirius said finally. "You don't know her," he said. Hermione looked away disappointed.

"Well then how does it have to do with me?" Hermione asked stubbornly. Sirius

hesitated momentarily.

"I—I—it doesn't," Sirius said dejectedly. "I shouldn't have brought it up. I'm sorry," Sirius said, pulling away from her arms and turning and heading for the exit from the room.

"Sirius, I didn't mean it like that, I just--" but Sirius had already left. Hermione sighed and lay down on the green, leather couch in the middle of the room. She felt bad for making him feel unheard but he truly was overreacting. She had every right to be angry at him for leaving her on a cliff after beginning an obviously memorable story if it had stuck with him this long. Hermione sighed again and rolled over onto her back and dozed off into a deep sleep.

The next morning Hermione awoke to the feeling of sunbeams shining over her and in her face. Not quite taking notice of the face that the sun never shines at Twelve Grimmauld Place, she received a great and unpleasant shock at the sound of Madam Pomfrey.

"Mr. Lupin would you mind removing your two irritating and bothersome friends from my hospital wing, please?"

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey, sorry. Guys let's go," Lupin said

"But, I found her. I should be able to stay," said an annoyed voice just as Hermione's eyes flew open and she sat up. It took a moment for her to register what she saw; Madame Pomfrey and the marauders staring down at her on her bed in the hospital wing. But the moment it did register her heart began beating incredibly fast and she was nearly hyperventilating.

"Mr. Black, get some water, immediately!" Said Madam Pomfrey, completely forgetting her last words about the boys leaving. Sirius moved quickly, grabbing an empty boal and muttering aguamenti, filling it immediately with ice cold water and handing it to Madam Pomfrey.

"It's all right, dear," Madam Pomfrey said, dabbing Hermione's neck with a rag soaked in the water as she looked around frightfully at the young marauders. What had happened? She was just at Twelve Grimmauld Place only moments ago so how did she get here? Her breathing finally began to die down although her eyes were still just as wide if not more so then before.

"Why am I here now?" Hermione asked breathlessly.

"Oh so you've been to Hogwarts before then?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"Yes of course I go here! But during MY time! Not yours I…. I need to speak to Dumbledore now---"

"I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore is on vacation, my dear. If you like I can send for him about an urgent matter…" Madam Pomfrey offered.

"No, no, nevermind. It's all right. I'll… I'll just wait. Do you know what's happened to me?" Hermione asked Madame Pomfrey.

"I'm afraid you've been sent back in time twenty years," said a voice from the doorway just entering. It was a much younger looking Professor McGonagall "I actually have already informed Dumbledore of this matter. He told me to leave you in – erm, the care of the 'marauders', until he returned. That's these boys here," she said gesturing towards the four boys sitting all around the room. "They're James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. They will take care of you." All the boys muttered hellos and James waved and Sirius stood up.

"Oh, we certainly will," he said, walking over to her and reaching out a hand. "Sirius Black," he said. Hermione held out hers.

"Hermione Granger," she said forcing a smile upon her face.

"You'll be all right, while you're here, Hermione. I'll take care of you," Sirius said grinning as his flipped a lock of his dark black hair away from his eye, sending chills up Hermione's spine. This couldn't be happening, Hermione thought. This shouldn't be happening. Should it?


	2. Day One In the Past

Chapter 2 –

That day Hermione accompanied the marauders to all their classes including Defense Against the Dark Arts taught by a scruffy looking wizard with long hair called Professor Barker and Divination taught by a veela called Madame Idrille whom the four boys obviously found completely fascinating. Hermione thought that she made the subject of divination even harder to stand then it already was. At one point James stood up and reached out for her making the entire class laugh apart from one girl with auburn hair seated at a table not too far away who looked rather disgusted. Her name, Hermione learned from Sirius, was Lily Evans who turned out to be the person Hermione was most grateful to meet.

"James fancies her," Sirius whispered to Hermione during Divination. Hermione smiled.

"Does she fancy him?"

"She's in denial, but I know she does," Sirius said looking over at her. She was still scowling a little by the time James had finally been forced back into his seat by Remus. Sirius leaned back and tossed a lock of his sleek black hair behind his face and looked around amusedly as Hermione, Peter, Remus and James all began copying a long list of notes from the board. Sirius was entertained by Hermione's intense precision. "So do you like divination?" Sirius asked Hermione as he watched her scribbling down the notes as fast as she could. "Because it certainly appears that way."

"No," Hermione said, not looking up. "I think it's a load of rubbish." Sirius narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, right, well that explains your enthusiasm," he said, smirking sarcastically. Hermione blushed slightly.

"It's because it's my first day here, and I thought I should make a good first impression on all my teachers."

"You should meet Lily," Lupin, who was sitting on her other side, said. "She's just like you. She has her passions and her hobbies like everyone else but makes an effort even at the things she hates."

"And then whines about it," added Sirius. Remus shook his head and went back to his writing without another word.

"I'll get her for you after class," James said, sitting up and acting mature for the moment at the thought of getting to speak with Lily.

When class ended James made a point of packing up his books quickly as he rushed across the room to Lily who was just about to leave.

"Hey, Lily, how are you?" James asked in sincere kindness. Lily smiled slightly.

"I'm fine thank you. Well, I have to go," and Lily grabbed her bags and was about to rush away when James stopped her.

"Wait, er – I want you to meet someone," he said. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Is this another one of your pranks, Potter, because I won't fall for it this time. That incident with the History of Magic book and the pickled eyeballs was only because I was sick that day and -- "

"Evans, calm down," said Sirius who was now walking over with Hermione to rescue James.

"This is Hermione Granger," James said gesturing to Hermione who smiled shyly and gave a little wave. "And Hermione, this is Lily Evans," James said. Lily smiled, the frustration with James still evident on her face.

"She comes from twenty years into the future!" Peter Pettigrew said itching his head. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Very funny," she said. Then she turned to Hermione. "What house are you in?"

"er – Gryffindor," she replied.

"What? No. And your in your seventh year? No I would know you," Lily said.

"Well, actually, Peter was right. I've come back in time," she said wincing a little in hopes that Lily didn't shun her as well.

"Are you serious?" Lily asked. "That's amazing! They've only invented small forms of time travel in our time… such as going back a few minutes or so and it isn't even efficient. This is amazing. And you're in Gryffindor? Excellent! Do you like Ancient Runes?" Hermione began to nod her head enthusiastically before Sirius Black joined in.

"Yeah, she's way too intelligent and a bit of a know-it-all like yourself so I'm sure you girls will have loads to talk about," Sirius joked. Hermione and Lily both opened their mouths in protest before another voice joined the conversation.

"Besides," Remus said from the table having just finished packing up his books, now striding over to join them. "Hermione needs a girl to hang out with as well, like in the Girls' Dormitory where Sirius simply can't follow—"

"Hey that never stopped me," Sirius said. James and Peter laughed and Lupin couldn't help smiling a little.

"Anyway," Remus continued. "She also needs someone who is well above our standards in thoughtfulness—"

"Hey!" Sirius protested. At this point Lily and Hermione were in a fit of laughter and Lily finally spoke.

"Alright, alright, you can stop lecturing me. Of course I'll hang out with Hermione," Lily said, now turning to her. "Well come on, let's head up to the commonroom and get started on Ancient Runes," motioning for Hermione to depart the Divination room.

" Hey, just because we're letting you hang out with her doesn't mean you can steal her away from us," Sirius called as they began walking away.

"Oh shove off, Sirius," Lily said.

"I'll see you later, then!" Hermione called back to the four boys.

"Bye, Lily!" called James.

That night the marauders sat in the commonroom for a while until everyone left to go to sleep a little before midnight giving them a chance to discuss their new encounter.

"I think she's nice," said Lupin who was sitting back in a scarlet armchair looking more tired then ever. "She seems very clever."

"She likes you Sirius," said Peter from the other armchair.

"She does not you great bloke. She only just met me this morning for God's sake," Sirius, who was sprawled out on the sofa, said looking around frustrated. He summoned a butterbeer out of nowhere and began drinking it down immediately.

"Anyone else want one?" Sirius asked. Everyone except Lupin nodded and Sirius summoned them butterbeers just as quickly.

"Hey Sirius, are you going to ask her to the winter ball?" asked James, who was sitting in front of the fireplace.

"Of course not. You know I'm asking Dimaia," Sirius said rather loudly.

"I thought you were over her," said Remus.

"Yeah, well we had our fun. But I still want to go to the ball with her," Sirius said.

"Sirius, you've got to stop messing with girls' heads. Honestly, give them a break," Lupin said, now leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

"Oh come on, Moony, lay off. You know Dimaia doesn't care--"

"Well all right. Then I'm sure you won't mind if _I_ ask Hermione to the ball," Lupin added now even more wide-awake then he had been the whole day. Sirius hesitated for a moment.

"W-what?" he said stuttering a little bit.

"Yeah, I already told you I think she's pretty and smart and really nice so I think I should ask her--"

"Alright! Alright! You got me. I – I do want to ask her. A little," Sirius said a bit too quickly. Lupin smiled satisfied, now allowing himself to look exhausted again. "But that doesn't mean I will. There are plenty of girls for me to choose from. Why should I pick her anyway…" Sirius trailed off brushing aside a lock of dark black hair away from his gray eyes.

"Well I know who _I'm_ asking," James said sitting up.

"James you know Lily won't say yes," said Peter. James's eyes suddenly grew wide as is with sudden enlightenment.

"Guys! Do you think that perhaps Hermione would be able to convince Lily to go out with me? I mean she thought I was cool, right?" He exclaimed. Sirius nodded contemplatively.

"Your right, James that just might work. I'll talk to her about it," Sirius said.

"Cool, well I'm going to bed. "'Night all," Lupin said yawning and standing up, his thin blonde hair a mess.

"Wait, Moony. When's the next full moon?" asked Sirius.

"A couple weeks. All right, I'm tired. I'll see you all tomorrow."

"Same," said Peter. "Goodnight guys."

"We'll be right up," called Sirius now turning to James. "Yeah, so I'll talk to Hermione about Lily tomorrow. Hopefully she'll loosen up a little after that."

"Yeah hopefully," added James, his eyes getting a little foggy as he gazed off across the room. Sirius sniggered.

"You are so gone over her, its incredible really," Sirius said shaking his head in disbelief.

"Wait till you're dead in love with someone, Padfoot. Then I'll be the one laughing," said James. Sirius laughed again as he ran his hands through his hair and sat up.

"Not likely, James. Don't hold your breath," Sirius said as he stood up and stretched. His tie was loose and falling off and his white shirt was untucked. "Let's go to bed."

A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! I hope you enjoyed it. Please take a moment to write a review. They're greatly appreciated and very helpful as well! Chapter 3 will be up soon.


	3. Late Nights Long Mornings

Want Chapter 3 – Late Nights, long mornings.

Lily was so enthralled by Hermione's tale of time travel that she wanted to stay up all night contemplating the possibilities and reasons for such an occurrence. Hermione even had to put a silencing charm around their end of the girls' commonroom because of her loud enthusiasm. Though Hermione, of course, was so thrilled to have a new friend that she would have stayed awake for a week telling her story. After a while though, the conversation shifted and they got to talking about other much more interesting things.

"Not as if I'd know them, but what are you friends like? I mean, during your time?" asked Lily from her cross-legged position on her bed, parallel to Hermione's.

"Oh, well, I have two best friends. Ron Weasley and Harry… er – Harry," Hermione said, not so smoothly. Lily didn't seem to notice.

"Oh? What are they like?"

"Well, Ron has bright red hair and a huge family, all so, so kind. He is…. odd. He's sweet when he wants to be but… you know… teenage boys. And Harry is a lot like James except… a little more… livid or confused I guess you could say," but Hermione paused when she saw the look of disgust on Lily's face.

"Why don't you like James?" asked Hermione, feeling almost a little hurt but not really sure why. Perhaps because Lily loathed the closest thing to Harry in this knew time when she truly shouldn't. Hermione couldn't love anyone more then her two best friends. He couldn't be that much different from Harry, could he?

"Why don't I like him!" Lily asked, shifting positions and reaching around the back of her head and pulling all of her ginger hair over her shoulder as an act of handling her frustration. "Well I don't hate him if that's what you mean. But honestly, he acts like a first year sometimes! He has absolutely no respect for her superiors, and he can be so cruel…" Lily trailed off and Hermione narrowed her eyebrows.

"Cruel? Well as long as I've been here those boys have been nothing but kind to me," Hermione said defensively. She didn't know why exactly she was sticking up for them. It was true she didn't really know them yet.

"Well sure, to you," Lily muttered. "To them you're just another girl whose naïve and pretty, who needs help finding her way around They just see it as a perfect opportunity to meet another girl." Hermione was slightly taken aback by this comment. She knew she was new and all which made her a little more vulnerable, but she never thought of herself as naïve. Lily noticed that Hermione was surprised at her words and obviously felt bad when she immediately started changing her words.

"I'm not saying you are, I'm just saying Sirius and James can bring the worst out of people."

"Well who are they mean to then?" Hermione asked now reaching over to the pitcher of water on the mahogany nightstand that sat between their beds and pouring herself a glass of water.

"Have you met Severus Snape yet?" Lily asked looking up. Hermione was just taking a gulp of water and in her attempt not to spit it out everywhere at Lily's words Hermione began coughing vigorously. Lily, startled, stood up, not quite knowing what to do.

"Are you alright?" she asked getting out her wand. "Are you choking? I can fix it right away." Hermione shook her head as her coughing fit ended.

"He goes here!" Hermione questioned loudly. She always knew he went to school with the marauders but it never actually hit her as hard as this. When she'd arrived she hadn't prepared herself, much less expected to see a younger Snape running around also. "I mean… of course he goes here, I - " Hermione clutched her head and flipped a lock of curly brown hair out of her eyes with frustration.

"Do you know him?" Lily asked again.

"Yes, I… he teaches at Hogwarts in my time," Hermione said, eyes out of focus and face screwed up in attempt to understand once again how she came to be here.

"Really? What a relief. Some are beginning to doubt his motives and whether he'll grow to become a dark wizard or not," Lily sat back, relaxed now, almost as though this was what she'd been waiting to hear and now she was ready to sleep. Hermione didn't want to talk about Snape's motives right now though. That was beside the point.

"Do James and Sirius make fun of him often?" Hermione asked. She knew about the one incident in the pensive, which Harry had told her and Ron about but she didn't think of it as being an ongoing occurrence.

"If whenever they see him is often to you, then yes," Lily said, now laying down and pulling her covers over her, eyes drooping with fatigue but Hermione stayed sitting up, thinking about what Lily was saying. She listened intently although her mind couldn't help but drift off onto the why and wherefore of such a situation. Was Sirius really as cruel as Lily made him out to be? And James. Was he really all that bad? What about Remus and Peter? That night Hermione dreamed about Ron and Harry. They had come back in time with her and Harry became best friends with Sirius and James. Harry made fun of Snape as well and at one point Lupin turned into his werewolf form and attacked all of them. Thankfully, Hermione woke up before anything worse could happen.

That morning, Hermione managed to wake up with a decent amount of time to organize her books, clothes and homework before heading down to the great hall with her new friend. At breakfast Lily and Hermione sat across from the marauders who all seemed strangely quiet.

"What is it?" Lily asked suddenly in a voice expressing her amazement and surprise at the sight of these four boys behaving so well. "You almost look… _civilized_."

"A lot on our minds," Remus muttered, referring to their conversations of the night before about the ball, Hermione, Lily. The truth was Peter was always pretty shy, James was trying to impress Lily, Remus was always tired due to his monthly visit to the shrieking shack, and no one really knew why Sirius was so silent. Lily narrowed her eyes and she and Hermione glanced at each other skeptically. Sirius looked up.

"What? You think we're incapable thinking, or something?" He asked, challenging them teasingly and dropping the spoon that he had been stirring around his porridge with for a while now. James laughed.

"The truth is we stayed up pretty late last night," he said. Lily rolled her eyes.

"I can only imagine what you were doing," she said glancing at Hermione again.

"Actually we were talking," Sirius said truthfully, though proudly understanding the fact that they thought otherwise.

"What about?" Hermione asked indifferently as she finished her last strawberry and looked up at him. He looked in her eyes and made her wait, allowing her curiosity to develop. Hermione felt her interest growing and every moment longer that she waited she wanted more desperately to know what they had talked about the night before. Sirius smirked slightly and finally when she thought she couldn't handle it any longer, he responded.

"Our Defense Against the Dark Arts homework," he replied casually, breaking eye contact with her and taking a bite of his porridge. The spell was broken and Hermione sighed and looked away irritatedly, making something inside Sirius chuckle. He loved watching a proud girl struggle with her dignity and willpower. Hermione didn't understand what caused that feeling to come over her. She knew in her future life she was attracted to Sirius in some way but this Sirius was different. He was much more immature, he was arrogant, and he was much too childish for her liking. So why did she want to know what the marauders were talking about the night before? Had she hoped they were talking about her? Her thoughts were broken when Lily stood up in her chair.

"Oh my gosh! I forgot my Potions homework!" she cried. "I have to run back up to the girls dormitory. I'm so sorry, Hermione, I'll have to meet you in there. Will you be okay?" Lily glanced around at the four boys whom she was leaving her with.

"What do you mean 'Will she be okay'?" James asked.

"Yeah, we're the ones Dumbledore put her in charge of," Sirius asked.

"No one is in charge of her," Remus spoke up jadedly.

"Thank you, Remus," Hermione said appreciatively. Sirius rolled his eyes at his exhausted friend for always having to be the mature one and ending arguments. Hermione smiled at Lily.

"I'm sure I'll be fine," she said. And a moment later Lily was gone, sprinting up to the dormitory and out of sight.

"Well, come on. It's almost time for Potions with Professor Karp," Sirius said standing up stretching. Remus, James, and Peter both stood up after him and stepped out of the benches. Hermione did the same except when she picked up her book bag and swung it over her shoulder, Lily's unfinished glass of orange juice was tipped over and its contents were flying directly at Hermione. But before it could spill Sirius had his wand out and the orange juice was reversed, flying back into the glass in seconds. The marauders all chuckled except for Sirius who was just shaking his head slowly and grinning in disbelief. Hermione was completely embarrassed turning several shades of pink, as she stayed frozen in her position halfway out of her seat.

"Sirius, you coming?" James asked after the laughter had cooled down. Sirius still hadn't stopped grinning at the humiliated Hermione, now slightly pitying her for having to undergo humiliation twice in one sitting.

"You guys go ahead. Looks like our new friend here could use some help," he replied with a smile. "So, Hermione you want me to come around and help you out of you chair, or what?" he teased as the marauders walked away.

"I'm sure I can handle it," she replied sarcastically as she stepped out of her chair completely and began heading towards the door. Sirius walked around to meet her so that he could accompany her to class. Next was potions and Hermione only hoped she could make it through the class without spilling something again.


End file.
